Bauhaus
Mask

THE REVIEW

"Mask" presents itself as a less hallucinatory album than "In The Flat Field", less excessive and less irritating, yet what it loses in impact it gains in (dismal) fantasy and originality. Although it contains some classics of the macabre that delighted the goth ranks of the era, Ash and company (especially drummer Kevin Haskins) often weave decidedly warm, tribal soundscapes.

The drums, with the heavy use of reggae and ska rhythms, fused with Murphy's vampiric singing, create a magical effect, whose only limit is sometimes veering into the grotesque, and knowing our guys, we can't exclude a subtle irony as justification. The blazing start of "Hair of The Dog" is deceptive, being one of those classic hits akin to "In the Flat Field", hinting at a sequel. The following "Passion of Lovers", as simple as it is pleasant, channels us into a less intoxicating but equally touching music, decidedly more visceral. It's the classic chart crasher, and soon reveals itself as one of the Bauhaus anthems. The sickly ska of "Of Lilies and Remains" inaugurates the album's mood, while "Dancing" with a saxophone part played by Murphy, counters it with a tornado-like rhythm.

"Hollow Hills" is the first masterpiece of the album and represents the exact opposite of that Caribbean cheerfulness, though tainted by shadows, of "of Lilies and Remains", "In Fear of Fear", and "Kick in The Eye". The Sacred Hills of Bauhaus are played with a requiem-like gait. Murphy is incredible in conveying this overdose of resignation and esotericism without falling into a spectacle for its own sake. Distant echoes like a will-o'-the-wisp and a musical scaffolding that practically does not exist, with effects being the absolute masters, not instruments, frame the warning to mortals not to disturb the gloomy sleep of the hills. "In Fear of Fear" and "Kick in The Eye", as said, are the other side of the coin, with their dancable rhythms enriched by nuggets of humble electronics. The angry detonation of "Muscles in Plastic" duly renders the physicality of the album, with a fast-paced and furious rhythm. "The Man With the X-Ray Eyes" is as goth as it gets. The pulsing bass recalls Siouxsie & The Banshees, as well as the shamanic voice and the softly infernal chimes that open and close the piece, worthy of an urban terror, populated by marginalized and creepy individuals.

The break is entrusted to the title track and this is decidedly the peak of the whole work. "Mask", with different terms and themes, manages to reach the claustrophobias, the heaviness, the shining gloom, of PIL's "Albatross" or "Flowers of Romance", as well as "The Funeral Party" by the Cure or "Decades" by Joy Division. Simply intolerable music, this, an endless series of implosions that eventually find a resolution, in a heart-breaking guitar arpeggio. "The Shadow is Cast", Murphy declares, resignated and sadistically satisfied by his own despair.

Fun and sometimes genius in its "tribal" digressions, unsurpassed in the darker parts, this is "Mask".